JP3727326B2 - Golf club manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a golf club manufacturing method in which a shaft is attached to a metal golf club head.

  In the manufacture of metal golf club heads, when the metal parts of the golf club head, such as the face part, the sole part, the hosel part, etc., are fixed to each other, conventionally, the metal part is made by arc welding using a metal welding rod. They are sticking together.

  However, the method for manufacturing a metal golf club head by arc welding described above melts both the metal part to be welded and the welding rod at the same time and welds while raising the bead, so that the appearance of the welded part becomes worse, The golf club head has a disadvantage that the weight varies. In addition, since a large amount of heat is applied to both metal parts to be welded, the crystal grains in the vicinity of the weld become large and hard and brittle, and there is a problem that sinks and distortions due to heat shrinkage occur near the weld. Met.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and is a method for manufacturing a metal golf club head in which a plurality of metal portions are bonded together to form a composite metal plate that forms the same surface of the club head. A metal golf club head that has a good appearance of the welded portion, less variation in the weight of the composite metal plate, and does not become hard and brittle near the welded portion or cause sinking or distortion near the welded portion. An object of the present invention is to provide a production method capable of obtaining the above.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a metal golf club head shown in the following 1-4 .
1. A plurality of metal portions having different thicknesses are fixed to each other by laser welding to produce a composite metal plate that forms a surface selected from a face surface, a sole surface, a crown surface, and a side surface of a metal golf club head. A method for manufacturing a golf club, comprising: processing a composite metal plate by press molding; and then, attaching the composite metal plate to an opening of a head body to produce a metal golf club head.
2 . A plurality of metal parts made of dissimilar metals having 60% or more of the metal composition are fixed to each other by laser welding to form a surface selected from the face surface, sole surface, crown surface and side surface of the metal golf club head. The composite metal plate is manufactured, and then the composite metal plate is processed by press molding, and then the composite metal plate is fixed to the opening of the head body to manufacture a metal golf club head. Production method.
3 . The method for producing a golf club according to 1 or 2 , wherein the composite metal plate is fixed to the opening of the head body by laser welding.
4 . The golf club manufacturing method according to any one of claims 1 to 3 , wherein a metal part having an opening and a metal part fitted into the opening are fixed as the plurality of metal parts.

Laser welding is welding that uses the energy of a laser beam, and can be performed without using a welding rod, and can also be performed with finer or more precise welding than with arc welding. According to the present invention, a composite metal plate is formed by fixing a plurality of metal portions by laser welding to form the same surface of a metal golf club head , and then the composite metal plate is processed by press molding. since by fixing the composite metal plate to the opening of the body to produce a metal golf club head, good appearance of the welds and the upper variation in weight of the composite metal plate is small, around the weld hard yet It is possible to obtain a metal golf club head that does not become brittle or cause sinking or distortion near the welded portion.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail. In the present invention, the type of laser used for laser welding is not limited, but a gas laser such as a CO laser or a CO ₂ laser, or a solid laser such as a YAG laser can be preferably used. Since the YAG laser can shorten the wavelength of the laser beam as compared with the CO ₂ laser, the heat absorption rate of the metal is increased and it is effective for a metal that is difficult to weld such as aluminum. In addition, since the CO ₂ laser can increase the laser output, even a thick metal part can be welded.

  In laser welding, the width of the laser beam irradiated onto the welded portion can be controlled by condensing the laser beam. Depending on the type and thickness of the metal, it is 1.0 mm or less, preferably 0.2 mm. Welding can be performed with a width of ˜0.5 mm. Therefore, compared to arc welding or the like, the periphery of the welded portion does not need to be dissolved so much, so that distortion due to heat hardly occurs.

  Further, according to laser welding, after a plurality of metal plates are welded to produce a composite metal plate, the composite metal plate can be processed by press molding or the like. Therefore, in the present invention, a golf club head manufacturing process can be simplified by processing a composite metal plate formed by welding a plurality of metal plates by laser welding into a golf club head. In the case of producing such a composite metal plate, each metal plate is preferably a forged material or a rolled material, and particularly an alloy whose hardness is increased by a heat treatment such as a precipitation hardening type metal.

  In the present invention, in order to accurately weld the metal parts forming the same surface of the golf club head by laser welding, it is preferable to produce the metal parts not by mere cutting but by punching or laser cutting. Moreover, the precision of the junction part of metal parts can be raised by further milling a cut surface. When it is desired to finish the appearance of the welded portion more finely, it is possible to further finish-weld the portion once welded by laser welding.

In the present invention, a metal part up to a plate thickness of 3 mm can be welded by using a 1000 W CO ₂ laser oscillator in a laser welder, and a metal up to a plate thickness of 5 mm can be obtained by using a 2000 W CO ₂ laser oscillator. The made part can be welded. In addition, by using a 1000 W YAG laser oscillator in the laser welding machine, a metal part up to a plate thickness of 3 mm can be welded for stainless steel, and a metal part up to a plate thickness of 2 mm can be welded for a titanium alloy or aluminum alloy. . Usually, in the case of a metal wood type golf club head, the face portion is the thickest, and the material of the face portion is often made of stainless steel, maraging steel, titanium alloy, beryllium copper alloy with a thickness of 3 mm or less. It can be sufficiently welded with a laser welding machine having a 2000 W CO ₂ laser oscillator.

  In the present invention, metal portions forming the same surface of the golf club head are fixed to each other by laser welding. In this case, examples of the same surface include a face surface, a sole surface, a crown surface, and a side surface.

  In the present invention, metal parts having different thicknesses can be fixed by laser welding (see FIG. 2 described later). In this way, when metal parts having different thicknesses are welded to each other, a plane-side surface can be formed using a jig. Further, by using a composite metal plate in which metal parts having different thicknesses are welded to the face part and partially changing the elastic modulus of the face part, the resilience can be increased. Furthermore, by using a composite metal plate in which metal parts with different thicknesses are welded to the sole part, crown part, side part, etc., the weight distribution of the head is changed and the moment of inertia around the center of gravity axis of the head is improved. Or the position of the center of gravity can be made deeper or shallower.

  Moreover, in this invention, metal parts which consist of a different kind of metal can be adhere | attached by laser welding. For example, it is possible to perform laser welding of dissimilar metals having 60% or more of the same metal forming the metal part. Thus, when the main materials of the metal parts are the same, the melting conditions such as the melting temperature and thermal conductivity are close, so that laser welding can be performed satisfactorily. However, even with completely different metals, laser welding is possible if conditions such as melting temperature and thermal conductivity are close. For example, since the melting temperature of iron is 1530 ° C. and the melting temperature of nickel is very close to 1453 ° C., iron and nickel can be laser-welded. That is, if the difference in melting temperature is 250 ° C. or less, preferably 120 ° C. or less, laser welding can be performed with completely different metals.

  Further, conventionally, when metal parts are fixed to each other, as shown in the example of the sole member 20 in FIG. 7, a frame-shaped holding rib 24 is provided on one metal part 22, and the other side is provided in the holding rib 24. The metal portion 26 was fixed by press-fitting, caulking, screwing, arc welding or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to provide the holding rib 24 in one metal part 22, and the processing is complicated. On the other hand, according to the present invention in which the metal parts are fixed to each other by laser welding, as shown in the example of the sole member 30 in FIGS. It is only necessary to provide the holding ribs 34 to the extent that the metal portion 36 can be positioned and prevented from falling off, and the processing is simple. Further, for example, when the lower surface is made flat as shown in FIG. 5, the other metal portion 36 can be positioned and prevented from falling without the holding rib 34. In such a case, FIG. 6 (A) and FIG. It is also possible to omit the holding rib as in (B).

A wood-type golf club head having a hollow portion configured as shown in FIG. 1 was produced. In this case, the face member 2 of the golf club head was produced by laser welding. As shown in FIG. 2, the face member 2 is a composite metal plate in which three metal parts, that is, a center part 4, an intermediate part 6, and an outer edge part 8, are fixed, and the materials and dimensions of each are as follows. .
Center part 4
Material: Titanium alloy (Ti-15Mo-5Zr-3Al)
-Elastic modulus: 107.6 GPa
・ Hardness: 415Hv
・ Thickness a: 3.0 mm
・ Face length minor axis b: 10mm
・ Long diameter c in the length direction of the face: 20 mm
Middle part 6
Material: Titanium alloy (Ti-15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al, cold-rolled plate material having a thickness of 3.0 mm)
-Elastic modulus: 111.5 GPa
Hardness: 414Hv
・ Thickness d: 2.7 mm
・ Short diameter e in the height direction of the face: 25 mm
・ Long diameter f in the length direction of the face: 40 mm
Outer edge 8
-Material: Titanium alloy (Ti-4.5Al-3V-2Mo-2Fe (SP700) rolled material)
-Elastic modulus: 112 GPa
Hardness: 392Hv
・ Thickness g: 2.5 mm
Each metal part was produced by stamping so as to fit well with each other. After the surface to be welded is fitted to each metal moiety to be flat, it was welded metal portions to each other using a CO ₂ laser welder output 2000 W. Welding was performed by irradiating a laser beam to the boundary portion of the metal portion (location indicated by symbols X and Y in FIG. 2). Moreover, since titanium and titanium alloys are easily oxidized, welding was performed while blowing argon gas to the weld.

  After the welding was completed, a roll and a bulge having a radius of about 10 inches were attached to the face member 2 by pressing. It was confirmed whether or not a crack occurred in the weld during this press working, but no crack occurred. Further, after the face member 2 was welded to the head main body and the head was polished and then painted, it was confirmed whether or not sink marks had occurred on the face surface, but no sink marks had occurred.

Further, a wood type golf club head having a hollow portion having the configuration shown in FIG. 3 was produced. In this case, the sole member 12 of the golf club head was produced by laser welding. As shown in FIG. 4, the sole member 12 is a composite metal plate in which two metal portions of the front end portion 14 and the rear end portion 16 are fixed, and the materials and dimensions thereof are as follows.
Front end 14
Material: Titanium alloy (Ti-15V-3Cr-3Sn-3Al)
・ Vertical h: 100 mm
・ Horizontal i: 80mm
・ Thickness j: 1.15 mm
Rear end 16
・ Material: Pure titanium ・ Vertical k: 100 mm
・ Width l: 50mm
・ Thickness m: 2.0mm
After bringing the front end portion 14 and the rear end portion 16 into contact, the metal portions were welded together using a CO ₂ laser welding machine with an output of 2000 W. Welding was performed by irradiating a laser beam with a width of 0.2 to 0.3 mm to an end portion (a portion indicated by a symbol Z in FIG. 2) of a thick material (rear end portion 16). Moreover, since titanium and titanium alloys are easily oxidized, welding was performed while blowing argon gas to the weld. After the welding was completed, the sole member 12 was further fixed to the sole opening of the head body by laser welding to finish the golf club head.

  Changes in the weight of the front end portion 14 and the rear end portion 16 when the front end portion 14 and the rear end portion 16 were fixed by laser welding (Example) and when fixed by TIG welding (Comparative Example) were examined. The results are shown in Table 1 below.

表１からわかるように、レーザ溶接では殆ど重量の変化がなく、また、板厚の薄い前端部１４に関しても、歪みが生じることがなかった。

As can be seen from Table 1, there was almost no change in weight in laser welding, and no distortion occurred in the front end portion 14 having a thin plate thickness.

  After confirming the appearance of the produced golf club head after painting, a shaft was attached to the golf club head to produce a golf club. This golf club was a wood type golf club used in a region where the head speed was the fastest. An actual hit test was conducted at the driving range using the golf club, and it was examined whether or not a crack occurred in the welded portion, but no crack occurred. Thereby, it was confirmed that laser welding has no problem in practice. Further, when the face part and the sole part of the manufactured golf club head were examined, welding by laser welding did not use a welding rod, so there was almost no increase in weight and the welded part was very clean. Furthermore, since the composite metal plate produced by laser welding has almost no distortion or warpage due to welding, it was very easy to perform the work in the process of welding by combining the polishing process and the parts of the golf club head.

It is sectional drawing which shows the wood-type golf club head produced in the Example. 1A and 1B show a face member of the golf club head of FIG. 1, in which FIG. 1A is a front view, and FIG. It is sectional drawing which shows the wood-type golf club head produced in the Example. 4A and 4B show a sole member of the golf club head of FIG. 3, in which FIG. 3A is a bottom view and FIG. An example of the sole part of the golf club head by this invention is shown, (A) is sectional drawing, (B) is a bottom view. An example of the sole part of the golf club head by this invention is shown, (A) is sectional drawing, (B) is a bottom view. It is sectional drawing which shows an example of the sole part of the conventional golf club head.

Explanation of symbols

2 Face member 4 Center portion 6 Intermediate portion 8 Outer edge portion 12 Sole member 14 Front end portion 16 Rear end portion 30 Sole member 32 One metal portion 36 The other metal portion

Claims (4)

A plurality of metal portions having different thicknesses are fixed to each other by laser welding to produce a composite metal plate that forms a surface selected from a face surface, a sole surface, a crown surface, and a side surface of a metal golf club head. A method for manufacturing a golf club, comprising: processing a composite metal plate by press molding; and then, attaching the composite metal plate to an opening of a head body to produce a metal golf club head. A plurality of metal parts made of dissimilar metals having 60% or more of the metal composition are fixed to each other by laser welding to form a surface selected from the face surface, sole surface, crown surface, and side surface of the metal golf club head. The composite metal plate is manufactured, and then the composite metal plate is processed by press molding, and then the composite metal plate is fixed to the opening of the head body to manufacture a metal golf club head. Production method. 3. The golf club manufacturing method according to claim 1, wherein the composite metal plate is fixed to the opening of the head body by laser welding. As the plurality of metal parts to each other, and the metal portion having an opening, according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that to fix the metallic part which fits into the opening Golf club manufacturing method.

Images